![\"Sir](\"http:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/07\/image_2022-07-12_064956413-696x394.png\" "\\"Sir")
\nImage Source: Sky Sports<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n
Sir Mo Farah was brought to the UK illegally as a child and forced to work as a domestic servant, he has revealed.<\/p>\n
The Olympic star has told the BBC he was given the name Mohamed Farah by those who flew him over from Djibouti. His real name is Hussein Abdi Kahin.<\/p>\n
He was flown over from the east African country aged nine by a woman he had never met, and then made to look after another family\u2019s children, he says.<\/p>\n
\u201cFor years I just kept blocking it out,\u201d the Team GB athlete says.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\u201cBut you can only block it out for so long.\u201d<\/p>\n
The long-distance runner has previously said he came to the UK from Somalia with his parents as a refugee.<\/p>\n
But in a BBC documentary airing on Wednesday, he says his parents have never been to the UK \u2013 his mother and two brothers live on their family farm in the breakaway state of Somaliland.<\/p>\n
His father, Abdi, was killed by stray gunfire when Sir Mo was four years old, in civil violence in\u00a0Somalia.\u00a0Somaliland\u00a0declared independence in 1991 but is not internationally recognised.<\/p>\n
Sir Mo says he was about eight or nine years old when he was taken from home to stay with family in Djibouti. He was then flown over to the UK by a woman he had never met and wasn\u2019t related to.<\/p>\n
She told him he was being taken to Europe to live with relatives there \u2013 something he says he was \u201cexcited\u201d about. \u201cI\u2019d never been on a plane before,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n
The woman told him to say his name was Mohamed. He says she had fake travel documents with her that showed his photo next to the name \u201cMohamed Farah\u201d.<\/p>\n When they arrived in the UK, the woman took him to her flat in Hounslow, west London, and took a piece of paper off him that had his relatives\u2019 contact details on.<\/p>\n \u201cRight in front of me, she ripped it up and put it in the bin. At that moment, I knew I was in trouble,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n Sir Mo says he had to do housework and childcare \u201cif I wanted food in my mouth\u201d. He says the woman told him: \u201cIf you ever wanna see your family again, don\u2019t say anything.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cOften I would just lock myself in the bathroom and cry,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n For the first few years the family didn\u2019t allow him to go to school, but when he was about 12 he enrolled in Year 7 at Feltham Community College.<\/p>\n Staff were told Sir Mo was a refugee from Somalia.<\/p>\n His old form tutor Sarah Rennie tells the BBC he came to school \u201cunkempt and uncared for\u201d, that he spoke very little English and was an \u201cemotionally and culturally alienated\u201d child.<\/p>\n She says the people who said they were his parents didn\u2019t attend any parents\u2019 evenings.<\/p>\n Sir Mo\u2019s PE teacher, Alan Watkinson, noticed a transformation in the young boy when he hit the athletics track.<\/p>\n \u201cThe only language he seemed to understand was the language of PE and sport,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n Sir Mo says sport was a lifeline for him as \u201cthe only thing I could do to get away from this [living situation] was to get out and run\u201d.<\/p>\n He eventually confided in Mr Watkinson about his true identity, his background, and the family he was being forced to work for.<\/p>\n The PE teacher contacted social services and helped Sir Mo to be fostered by another Somalian family.<\/p>\n \u201cI still missed my real family, but from that moment everything got better,\u201d Sir Mo says.<\/p>\n \u201cI felt like a lot of stuff was lifted off my shoulders, and I felt like me. That\u2019s when Mo came out \u2013 the real Mo.\u201d<\/p>\n Sir Mo began making a name for himself as an athlete and aged 14 he was invited to compete for English schools at a race in Latvia \u2013 but he didn\u2019t have any travel documents.<\/p>\n Mr Watkinson helped him apply for British citizenship under the name Mohamed Farah, which was granted in July 2000.<\/p>\n In the documentary, barrister Alan Briddock tells Sir Mo his nationality was technically \u201cobtained by fraud or misrepresentations\u201d.<\/p>\n Legally, the government can remove a person\u2019s British nationality if their citizenship was obtained through fraud.<\/p>\n However, Mr Briddock explains the risk of this in Sir Mo\u2019s case is low.<\/p>\n \u201cBasically, the definition of trafficking is transportation for exploitative purposes,\u201d he tells Sir Mo.<\/p>\n \u201cIn your case, you were obliged as a very small child yourself to look after small children and to be a domestic servant. And then you told the relevant authorities, \u2018that is not my name\u2019. All of those combine to lessen the risk that the Home Office will take away your nationality.\u201d<\/p>\n Sir Mo says he wants to tell his story to challenge public perceptions of trafficking and slavery.<\/p>\n \u201cI had no idea there was so many people who are going through exactly the same thing that I did. It just shows how lucky I was,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n \u201cWhat really saved me, what made me different, was that I could run.\u201d<\/p>\n The woman who brought Sir Mo to London has been approached by the BBC for comment, but has not responded.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n![\"\"\/](\"http:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/07\/1657629171_354_image-62.png\")
\u2018The real Mo\u2019<\/h2>\n
![\"\"\/](\"http:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/07\/1657629171_809_image-63.png\")
Running \u2018saved me\u2019<\/h2>\n